SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO ABANDON YOUR COMFORT ZONE TO FIND THE
PLACE WHERE YOU BELONG.

Nineteen-year-old Erin is hoping that her visit to Japan
with her best friend, Adam, will be life-changing. When Erin
was just four years old, her mother mysteriously vanished.
Erin's only clue to her mother's possible whereabouts is a
hand-written itinerary for a dream trip to Japan, a trip
that Erin doesn't know if her mother ever had the chance to
take. Erin has decided to carry out this itinerary,
believing that it might help her find her mother.

But Erin's trip won't be going according to plan.

Hours after they arrive in Tokyo, in a jet-lagged fog, Erin
and Adam end up in bed together. While struggling with the
tension that now dominates their once innocent friendship
and the trauma stirred up from Erin's painful past, Erin and
Adam visit the places on her mother's list. As they explore
the wonders of Japan, Erin finds herself haunted by strange
"memories" that seem to belong to her mother. Could these
memories be real? If so, perhaps her mother can be found.

LOST IN TOKYO will appeal to readers of IF I STAY and JUST
ONE DAY (by Gayle Forman), 180 SECONDS (by Jessica Park),
TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN (by John Green), ALLIE AND BEA (by
Catherine Ryan Hyde), THIRTEEN REASONS WHY (by Jay Asher),
and REASON TO BREATHE (by Rebecca Donovan). The book
provides a travel guide of wonderful things to see and do
while on vacation in Japan (featuring attractions in Tokyo,
Kyoto, Nara, Nikko, and Kamakura) wrapped in a coming-of-age
story of healing and hope, with an unexpected ending that
you'll never see coming.

Praise for LOST IN TOKYO:

"Full of heartbreak, loss and finding yourself while falling
in love with your best friend. I would absolutely recommend
this book and I have to several people already." -- Amy,
Goodreads

"Beautifully written ... emotional adventure. Quite a few
scenes brought out the goosebumps." -- Denise, Goodreads

"There were so many surprises I was on the edge of my seat."
-- Kathryn, Goodreads

"Japan as a backdrop was such a unique story setting. It was
both peaceful and exciting at the same time." -- Amanda,
Goodreads

"Traveling throughout Japan is a dream of mine and this book
created a sense of familiarity with places I've only
witnessed through (manymanymany) videos." -- Em, Goodreads

"I absolutely loved this book! I couldn't put it down ...
The way the plot kept unfolding, I never knew what was going
to happen next." -- Amanda, Goodreads

If you love inspiring young adult or new adult
romantic contemporary novels, don't miss this powerful read!

If you're planning to read any books by J.W. Lynne with your
book club, please share the
details about your book club with the author (tentative
date of the meeting, city and state, and anything else you'd
like the author to know), and J.W. Lynne will try to make
your meeting extra special!

Author J.W. Lynne on the trip to Japan that
inspired Lost in Tokyo:

An excerpt from Lost in Tokyo

The air inside our hotel room smells like bleach and
honeysuckles; it’s not unpleasant, but it’s different. I
make my way down an entry hallway so narrow that I have to
carefully guide my suitcase so it doesn’t scrape against the
scarred walls.

The bedroom is about half the size of my dorm room. It’s
barely big enough to accommodate the two twin beds that take
up almost all of its floor space. The beds are separated by
a remarkably-skinny nightstand that’s dwarfed by the
normal-sized alarm clock on top of it. It is 1:08 AM.

I heave my suitcase and backpack onto the nearest bed. Adam
drops his suitcase and backpack onto the other bed and
collapses next to them. I can’t imagine spending the next
five nights cramped in this tiny room alone, much less with
another person. Until now, I hadn’t really considered how
strange it will be to share a bedroom with Adam. Although we
are best friends, we’ve never been roommates before. I
wonder if it will be awkward.

“Do you want to take the first shower?” Adam asks me.

“Sure. Thanks,” I say.

And then I notice neatly-folded, white, silk pajamas on my
bed. There are some on Adam’s bed too.

“Japanese pajamas!” I exclaim, lifting what turns out to be
a long nightshirt. “We should wear these!”

“I think I’ll wear shorts and a t-shirt,” Adam says.

“Suit yourself.” I unzip my suitcase, grab my toiletries,
and head into the bathroom.

As I brush my teeth, I examine the toilet. It looks like any
ordinary toilet back home, except that, on one side, it has
an armrest-like thing with numerous buttons that are labeled
in Japanese. There are symbols on the buttons also, but I
don’t know what they mean.

After I rinse the toothpaste from my mouth, I sit on the
toilet. “Whoa!” The seat is warm! It’s comforting in a weird
way to sit on a warm toilet seat—unless it’s still warm from
the person before you, which I’m sure is not the case here.
I push the first button: a big orange circle with a square
inside. Nothing happens. And then my foggy mind realizes
it’s the stop button. Good. If I push a button with an
outcome I don’t like, I can put an end to it quickly. I push
the next button: a blue person sitting on a blue stool.
“Aaah!” Warm water tickles my bottom. Strange. I push the
button with the square. The water flow instantly stops. The
next button is a red person on a red stool. The red stool is
angled slightly differently than the blue stool. “Eeee.” I
feel a little like I’m peeing in reverse. “Adam, you’ve
gotta try this toilet,” I call out. I’m sure it feels
different from a guy’s perspective, but it’s probably still
an interesting experience.

“Based on what I’m hearing, I look forward to it,” he calls
back.

I laugh, pee, wipe, and flush. Then I poke my head out of
the bathroom. “Do you need to use the restroom before I get
in the shower?”

Adam smiles sleepily at me. “No, I’m fine.”

The shower is less complicated than the toilet. I get it
going, strip off my clothes, and step inside. As the warm
water washes over me, it takes with it the stress of the
past twenty-four hours.

But it can’t budge the anxiety over what is to come.

* * *

I open my eyes, feeling disoriented. It takes me a moment to
realize that I’m not in my dorm room, but rather in a hotel
room in Japan. I think I slept some, but not much.

The clock on the nightstand reads “02:05.”

Adam is climbing into bed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake
you,” he whispers. “Go back to sleep.”

For some reason that I don’t completely understand, I climb
out of my bed, lift the covers on Adam’s bed, and slip under
them with him. I’ve only been in bed with Adam once before,
on the night my dad died. I needed someone next to me that
night. We didn’t cuddle. We didn’t even touch each other. We
slept in his bed with a pillow between us. But it was
comforting in exactly the way I needed to be comforted. Now,
I don’t need to be next to Adam, I want to be.

“Is something wrong?” Adam asks me.

“No, nothing’s wrong,” I say. And then I notice, “Hey,
you’re wearing the Japanese pajamas.”

“You seemed so excited about them. I didn’t want to let you
down.”

The way he says that makes it clear he’s joking, but his
words resonate with me. I’ve been let down many times in my
life. By people I loved. People I trusted. But Adam has
never, ever let me down.

As I stare into his eyes, I feel something stir inside me.
Something I didn’t think I’d ever feel again. A longing. I
wrap my arms around Adam, and he pulls our bodies together,
holding onto me so tightly that I feel his warmth through
the two thin silky layers that separate us.